Small America’s Cup field blamed on cost

Not everyone in the international sailing community is sold on using giant catamarans to compete for the America’s Cup, not even some of the people who will be competing for it next year in San Francisco.

Patrizio Bertelli, the head of Italy’s Luna Rossa Challenge syndicate, said Thursday the high-tech 72-footers are too complex and too expensive.

At a news conference in Auckland, New Zealand, the chief executive of the sponsoring Prada fashion house said the high cost is the reason only three syndicates – Luna Rossa, Emirates Team New Zealand and Sweden’s Artemis Racing – will compete in next summer’s Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series.

The winner will take on Larry Ellison’s Oracle Team USA in the America’s Cup finals. Luna Rossa will launch its America’s Cup boat in Auckland on Friday. Although the Italian team cut costs by buying the boat design from Team New Zealand, Bertelli said his budget for the 2013 regatta was $90 million.

Bertelli said the costs have scared off other potential challengers. Apparently Team Korea, which had paid the fee to be included, could not find sufficient funding to build its 72-footer.

Oracle’s recent wreck of its AC72 – estimated to cost $8 million – demonstrates the expensive nature of competing in the Cup. Artemis is also recovering from a recent mishap involving its 130-foot wing.

Luna Rossa skipper Max Sirena said the team that wins the Cup will be the one whose catamaran stays in one piece, a difficult challenge because the boats are complex, hard to handle and extremely fast.

America’s Cup CEO Stephen Barclay said in a statement that organizers have “put in place a long list of measures to limit costs, such as reduced crew numbers, limiting training days and not building costly permanent team bases.”

He said the teams and sponsors have seen increased value as a result of the America’s Cup World Series, a competition of 45-foot catamarans that began its second season this year with two regattas in San Francisco.

“We should recognize that many countries have endured really tough economic conditions,” Barclay said. “Sport is not immune from the effects of this.”

“We have four top teams, well-funded, experienced and loaded with talent. … The competition in 2013 will be intense and exciting.”